Sandra Cook's building a better future

Monday

Jul 25, 2011 at 12:01 AMSep 10, 2014 at 9:46 AM

By LIANA BAYNE PETERSBURG - Sandra Cook has spent her life helping people in the Tri-City area.A Hopewell native who attended Virginia State University and now lives in Petersburg, Cook has worked tirelessly for social justice.Cook keeps a neat house

By LIANA BAYNE

PETERSBURG - Sandra Cook has spent her life helping people in the Tri-City area.

A Hopewell native who attended Virginia State University and now lives in Petersburg, Cook has worked tirelessly for social justice.

Cook keeps a neat house off of South Crater Road, where she has lived with her older sister since the 1980s. Her living room is decorated with items bearing the Greek letters of her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, of which her sister is also a member. Various certificates on the walls are an indication of Cook's rich life of community service.

Her most recent positions include the chairwoman of Virginia Organizing, a non-partisan political organization that lobbies for social issues; a seat on the Virginia State Rehabilitation Advisory Council, where she helps oversee rehab services; and a seat on the Virginia Disability Commission, which works to shape programs, services and laws for people with disabilities.

Being involved with various groups that promote equality and services for people with disabilities is special to Cook's heart: Both she and her sister are wheelchair-bound.

"It's been a part of my life to help people make change," Cook said.

Cook is not the first in her family to fight for social justice and equality for people with disabilities and other setbacks.

Cook and her sister both have muscular dystrophy. Her sister has been in a wheelchair since third grade. Cook has been in a wheelchair since 2005, when she fractured a hip.

Her parents fought for equality for their children. Cook's mother served as the coordinator of recreation services in Hopewell, and worked toward having programs available for people with disabilities.

"She made sure we could participate," Cook said.

In this way, the Cook family was pointed toward community service and social justice.

As a young woman, Cook got her degree from VSU in social work. After college, she became involved with independent living centers in Richmond, which assist people with disabilities in their daily lives.

Cook also served as the organizer of outreach for Goodwill Industries and worked closely with the state Department of Education to help recent high school graduates with disabilities find jobs.

"I was always out in the community and outgoing," she said.

"I wanted to show them (high school students with disabilities) that people could go to college and be productive citizens," Cook said.

The Petersburg chapter of Virginia Organizing started in 2002. Cook's membership with the group began shortly after its creation.

"I started going to meetings and I was hooked," she said.

Though Cook's special interest is assisting people with disabilities, she has worked with Virginia Organizing on issues ranging from health care and Social Security reform to a change in the way ex-felons can regain voting rights.

When the Petersburg chapter began, Cook was already an active advocate for people with disabilities.

"We wanted to include persons with disabilities" in the new organization, she said.

In 2003, Cook became a board member. She has progressed from secretary to vice chair to chair.

In 2005, she retired on disability because of a fracture to her hip that put her in a wheelchair. That didn't slow her down, though.

When she retired and could devote more time and attention to the Petersburg chapter, she decided to get more involved.

Now, the Petersburg chapter is expanding to the Tri-Cities. Along with Cathy Woodson, who is the organizer for chapters in Central Virginia and is based in Richmond, Cook and other members of Virginia Organizing in Petersburg have been meeting with citizens from Hopewell, Colonial Heights, Dinwiddie, Prince George and the surrounding area to explore a larger Tri-Cities chapter.

Virginia Organizing is based in Charlottesville, and operates chapters there as well as in Danville, Fredericksburg, Hampton/Newport News, Martinsville, Northern Virginia, Richmond, South Hampton Roads, Southwest, the Shenandoah Valley and Williamsburg.

One of Virginia Organizing's missions, aside from causing and lobbying for social change, is empowering leaders. Cook can personally attest to that empowerment.

"I've always wanted to be part of leadership and it helped me," she said.

While not everyone is a naturally born public speaker, Cook said Virginia Organizing teaches its members to be comfortable talking about their passions to other people.

"We build and develop community leaders," she said.

Cook said when Virginia Organizing starts off teaching someone to be a spokesperson, they participate in peer-to-peer training where they learn to listen, speak and critique.

"You don't have to be involved in everything," Cook said. "We look for persons with passions. ... We don't expect people to do everything."

And just as Virginia Organizing has grown, so has Cook's visibility at the state level. Her seats on both the Virginia State Rehabilitation Advisory Council and the Virginia Disability Commission are governor-appointed, and she has been able to tie her work with Virginia Organizing in with those positions.

She has held both seats for the past six years.

Cook also developed her leadership skills through her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Inc.

She became involved with the traditionally African-American sorority after meeting another alumna in Chesterfield. Cook didn't join the sorority in college, but her sister did.

"The Delta chapters and Virginia Organizing work on the same campaigns," Cook said. She has led the local Delta chapter to work closely with the Petersburg chapter of Virginia Organizing.

"I liked the fact that they were trying to make changes in the community," she said.

"We're doing the same things (in both organizations). It's very connected," she said.

Cook hopes to see the social changes she has worked for. She hopes to see - soon, maybe even by the August annual meeting that Virginia Organizing chapters around the state attend - the creation of a larger Tri-Cities chapter.

And she hopes her story might inspire others.

"Every day, people can get involved and make change," she said.

- Liana Bayne may be reached at 722-5167 or newsroom@progress-index.com.

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